Dear zen friend

1)   November Sesshin:    11/08, 11/09,  11/10.  

      December Sesshin:    12/06, 12/07,  12/08.

      The Year End Sesshin:     from  12/27  to   12/31. 

 2)   There was a conference in Los Angeles for 2 days 2 weeks ago. Business was done as planned. But a physical position in an airplane was uncomfortable. I have my right knee been in sprain since. 

Complete recovery from the sprain may take 2 weeks. And sciatica likely be back due to lack of motion.  This is additional factor to be away from air travel. 

3)    LA Dodgers won baseball world championship over NY Yankees yesterday. The news could not be missed. Yankees have been super stars for hundred years for many Japanese. When Yankees traveled Japan in early 1930s, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig won all games. Total defeat has been talked about. Yankees were special.  Baseball players wanted to play in Yankees. We could not imagine to win over the New York professional team.  What a change a hundred years made!  

I worry about the left shoulder of Shoei Ohtani. Many honorable athletes gave up their careers due to injuries. He needs quiet time for a while.  

4)    Voting day for the presidential election will be on 11/05. The Tuesday may be remembered as one of the most important days in the US history and in the world. 

General election was held in Japan a week ago. But new prime minister and his cabinet members are not decided yet. They are waiting for the result of the presidential race in the US. 

The same thing has been happening in other nations, too.  Canada and England are liquid, watching a global  trend becoming clearer. WWIII has not started because the decision in the US is not made. The worldly situations look critical and urgent. 

However, these events occur all the time. Hundred years later, campaigns and power struggles would happen everywhere. There would be peace somewhere, there would be wars somewhere.  

I have been in general told that we should be away from politics. Shakyamuni was a prince, but he was not involved with politics. Dogen Zenji stayed far away from Kyoto,  the capital at that time. And I as a Soto Zen Buddhist am busy to do things other than politics. 

Regards.

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo